{"id":535755,"date":"2025-10-29T16:18:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T16:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/535755\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T16:18:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T16:18:13","slug":"south-london-council-defends-using-swear-words-in-light-hearted-social-media-posts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/535755\/","title":{"rendered":"South London council defends using swear words in &#8216;light-hearted&#8217; social media posts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Greenwich Council recently announced a \u00a35 million fund to tackle fly-tipping along with images proclaiming: &#8216;We\u2019re not putting up with this s*** anymore&#8217;<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_Anthony-Okereke.jpg\" alt=\"Greenwich Council Leader Anthony Okereke\" loading=\"eager\"  \/>Greenwich Council leader Anthony Okereke has defended the social media posts(Image: Kiro Evans)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"getwestlondon\">Social media posts by Greenwich Council featuring bleeped out swear words have been criticised by councillors for being \u201cunprofessional and offensive\u201d. The council has defended the posts, saying they have been viewed by thousands and no one has complained.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"getwestlondon\">On Monday (October 27), the <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mylondon.news\/all-about\/greenwich-council\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">South London authority<\/a> announced it was investing \u00a35 million to tackle fly-tipping in the borough. The money will be used to double the size of the council\u2019s <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mylondon.news\/news\/south-london-news\/south-london-road-plagued-fly-28147922\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">fly-tipping<\/a> enforcement teams, install new CCTV cameras to catch offenders, introduce a public reward scheme and hand out tougher punishments.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"getwestlondon\">The announcement was accompanied by posts across the council\u2019s social media platforms. A video explaining the new scheme begins with council leader Anthony Okereke saying: \u201cWe\u2019re not putting up with that bleep anymore\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Content cannot be displayed without consent<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"getwestlondon\">The council\u2019s X and Facebook pages both currently have the header of a garbage worker throwing a bag of rubbish into a trash compactor, accompanied with the statement: \u201cWe\u2019re not putting up with this s*** anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"getwestlondon\">The Independent and Green Group on Greenwich Council have criticised the posts and have written to the council leader and chief executive requesting the posts be taken down. Independent Cllr Lakshan Saldin said: \u201cThe appropriateness of language is situational and dependent on company and context.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"getwestlondon\">\u201cWe do not consider the use of \u2018We\u2019re not putting up with this s***\u2019 to be appropriate in a public communication from the council, and it is not an example we should be setting to our young people in our roles as community leaders. It is unprofessional, offensive, and reflects poorly on us as councillors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"getwestlondon\">Cllr Okereke has defended the posts, believing that <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mylondon.news\/all-about\/greenwich\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Greenwich<\/a> residents have taken the posts in \u201cthe light-hearted way\u201d they were intended. He directed attention to the borough\u2019s fly-tipping problems, which he deemed far more offensive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"getwestlondon\">Cllr Okereke said: \u201cThe campaign video has been seen over 16,000 times within the first 24 hours, and the general sentiment seems to be appreciated and has been taken in the light-hearted way it was intended.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"getwestlondon\">\u201cWe have not received any complaints from residents, and the video has been well engaged with, with the public sharing our frustration at fly-tipping criminals. The most offensive thing for most people is rubbish dumped on their street.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"getwestlondon\">\u201cAnything we can do to draw attention and build a sense of unity against the small number of people who dump illegally is a positive. We all share the same goal \u2013 fly-tipping needs to stop and those doing it need to be held accountable and made an example of.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"getwestlondon\"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">Got a story? email <\/strong><a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"http:\/\/cameron.blackshaw@reachplc.com\/\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">cameron.blackshaw@reachplc.com<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"getwestlondon\"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">Don&#8217;t miss out on the biggest local stories. <\/strong><a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/data.reachplc.com\/223274281922354\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">Sign up to our MySouthLondon newsletter HERE for all the latest daily news and more.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Greenwich Council recently announced a \u00a35 million fund to tackle fly-tipping along with images proclaiming: &#8216;We\u2019re not putting&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,393,4884,23421,164434,257,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-535755","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-greenwich","12":"tag-greenwich-council","13":"tag-london","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115458363828566098","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}